can I try and claim dla for Dd?

[Onamissionfor2015]

Long story short Dd has been getting investigated for special needs for 3 years now (just before her 3rd birthday now nearly six)

To say we are going round in circles would be a huge understatement (bitter laugh)

It looks like she has learning difficulties or autism or perhaps a mixture of the two with some delayed sensory processing added to the mix

We are waiting on further investigation from the autism clinic while fighting to get her assessed to stage 4 (currently stage 3) to get her extra help in school.

She is struggling with her school work (nearing end of year one) and I can only see it getting worse for her the longer it goes on before we get her help.

She has had three blocks of speech therapy and one block of occupational therapy as well as odd paediatrician/ educational psychology appointments thrown in there.

There's no chance of me going back to work soon (dh works full time) as I need to be here for her appointments and I wouldn't trust anyone else with her outside school hours (no awareness of danger, bolts over roads, runs away from parks, has epic meltdowns I would worry was put down to poor behaviour when I know it's not)

The money would never bother me I would honestly rather make do and be her for her but days like today we have been on a sensory awareness course which was so helpful but a lot of the things they have shown us which I'm sure could help (weighted blankets, gym balls, lap weights) are so expensive and it just got me thinking could we apply for dla even though she has not yet been given any diagnosis or does it look like one might come soon?

DLA is based on care needs, not diagnosis. lots of children get DLA without formal dx.

if your DC needs help and care over and above a typical child, you should be entitled to dla. by the sound of it, you also have plenty of evidence to back it up.

get a form & apply. use the cerebra guide DLA (Google it).

Definitely apply. Sounds like she'll get it. And you can then apply for carers allowance as well.

Yes, do it its a horrible form but well worth it if you get it and as meir says you can get Carers aswell and also a different level of tax credits if you are entitled to them!

Good luck

Yes, do apply. We got DLA for DS when he had just turned three, and he had no n diagnosis. He has since been diagnosed with ASD. The cerebra guide can be downloaded and it is very useful. Call up and request that the DLa application form be posted to you, as if you return it within six weeks and are successful, the payments are backdated to when you called.

The form takes ages, so be warned! It took us maybe six hours over two evenings and it is depressing and exhausting to complete.

You can do a Google search using search terms like mumsnet special needs children Dla application form etc and find older posts where advice has been given. I did that and it helped a lot.